Washington Update

The U.S. Department of Education has launched a new site, FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov that provides one-stop shopping for all financial aid questions. The “Financial Aid Toolkit” is a searchable, online database that consolidates financial aid resources and content in one spot on the web. It is designed to help school guidance counselors and other professionals more easily navigate the complicated area of financial aid and provide better support to students.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan unveiled the new website on December 4 before more than 6,000 people at the 2013 Federal Student Aid Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals. “This toolkit builds on the administration’s ongoing efforts to improve college access and affordability, and it is an important step toward meeting the President’s 2020 goal of having the most college graduates in the world,” said Duncan.
The database has four subsections that cover the basics of financial aid; these include a primer on financial aid, advice on conducting financial aid outreach, information on training to becoming a financial aid counselor and a database searchable by topic, audience type and type of media—from social media to infographics.

The staff of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has advised the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) that proposed accreditation standards for dental therapy education could impede rather than promote the development of a nationwide dental therapy profession.
The FTC staff, in an advisory letter, said CODA’s Accreditation Standards for Dental Therapy Education Programs include unnecessary statements on supervision, evaluation and treatment planning, language that could have the effect of limiting competition in the supply of dental care services. “We respectfully suggest that CODA consider dropping such statements,” the FTC wrote.
Among the statements singled out by the FTC is one saying that supervising dentists “will be responsible for assessment of the implications of the patient’s medical condition, diagnosis, risk assessment, prognosis and treatment planning.” The FTC letter notes that “such statements ordinarily are not found in the accreditation standards of education programs for other allied dental professionals who are also supervised by dentists” and could “constrain states’ discretion … to define broadly dental therapists’ scope of practice to include oral evaluation and treatment planning.”
The FTC recommended that CODA consider omitting categorical statements on topics that are typically addressed through state licensure and scope-of-practice laws, and that CODA consider developing accreditation standards for graduate-level dental therapy programs.

A Senate-sponsored task force of 14 college and university experts has been formed to make recommendations to “reduce and streamline confusing or costly regulations.” The task force was announced on November 18 by four members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which oversees higher education and education-related federal regulatory requirements.
“The stack of federal regulations on colleges and universities today is not the result of evil doers, it is simply the piling up of well-intentioned laws and regulations without anyone spending an equal amount of time weeding the garden first,” said committee member Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), a former Secretary of Education, in a statement. “Let’s face it: the federal government has become one of the greatest obstacles to innovation in higher education…. This task force will help Congress weed the garden.”
The task force is co-chaired by Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos and University System of Maryland Chancellor William Kirwan, and includes 12 other college and university presidents and higher education experts. The American Council on Education will provide organizational assistance. A press release from American University, whose president, Cornelius Kerwin, will also serve on the task force, said the group would come up with specific recommendations to streamline confusing “regulations, legislation and reporting requirements” and “review in detail the extent of all federal reporting and regulatory requirements placed on institutions, including estimates of time and costs associated with that reporting.”

The FY14 National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment program application cycle will start accepting applications soon. The program is open to dental providers who are employed or seeking employment at approved sites. Applicants should be interested in working with underserved communities and populations in high need areas throughout the United States. Please click here for additional information.

The Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services sent a joint letter to all U.S. medical schools, dental schools, nursing schools, and other health-related schools, expressing concern that some may be making enrollment decisions based on an incorrect understanding of the hepatitis B virus, resulting in discrimination.